


Count... 126,144,125,370

by Widow_Spyder



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fever, Fever Dreams, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic, Stubborn Senku, sengen, worried gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:49:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26883178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Widow_Spyder/pseuds/Widow_Spyder
Summary: All in all, it was a terrible idea, in the long run, to work for three days straight while the weather was getting colder for winter.“You’re damn right for once, Senku-chan.”For the Prompt:hi! are u still taking fic requests? it's still june where i am but im not sure about you, so,, if u are, can i request a fic where gen takes care of senku while he's sick? there's so many sickfics where senku cares for gen but hardly any the other way around :'( also, just so u know i did already request a fic (my url was lovesenku then but i've moved blogs) so if u dont want to do this one it's totally fine, especially if you have others you're already working on !! have a wonderful day
Relationships: Asagiri Gen/Ishigami Senkuu
Comments: 14
Kudos: 248





	Count... 126,144,125,370

All in all, it was a terrible idea, in the long run, to work for three days straight while the weather was getting colder for winter. 

“You’re damn right for once, Senku-chan.” Gen responded as he fiddled with the makeshift heater they installed in the observatory. Across from him lay Senku on a bedroll nest with a cold compress on his forehead. The cool water from the stream helped to clear his head, but apparently, it wasn’t enough if he had said that out loud. 

“Honestly, you’re the world’s best scientist alive right now, probably the best in the world period! And you let yourself get this bad.” Gen grumbled, walking back over to Senku and taking his temperature with a cleaned thermometer they usually use for chemical testing. 

“Mentalist?” Senku groaned. His voice was scratchy and pained him whenever he used it but-

“What? What do you need? Some water? Another blanket?” Gen asked, eyes running a mile a second over his body trying to assess something. 

“Shut. Up.” Senku smirked, making Gen sputter indignantly. 

“How rude! You should be nicer to your nursemaid.”

Senku shook his head, frowning. “I don’t need a nursemaid. I’m not-”

“I swear, if you say, ‘I’m not sick,’ I will knock you out here and now.” Gen threatened, a glare going straight from Gen’s eyes to his eyes. Usually, Senku would be silently impressed by how Gen could morph from ‘flower crowns with Suika,’ to ‘mad-man with a hidden agenda,’ so easily, but he was tired today and wasn’t up to it. 

“I-” Senku started but ended up pulling away to cough into his arms, which turned into a whole fit when he couldn’t catch a break. His irritated sinuses did not appreciate his predicament either, as he coughed out more air than his lungs could breathe in. After an eternity, it finally stopped, and only then did he feel the hands rubbing circles into his back and neck. Gen’s worried face hovered near him as he assessed something. “Maybe I’m a little under the weather.” Senku muttered.

“Really? I would’ve never guessed. Was it your collapse in the middle of the village? Or the throwing up afterward?” Gen sarcastically growled. The vitriol in his tone was more evident than ever now, not that it bothered Senku, of course. He had other more pressing problems to deal with anyway. 

Besides, while Gen seemed keen on the idea of staying mad, Senku knew him better than that. He wasn’t wholly incapacitated not to take notice of the worried tone in his voice or the way he kept trying to steal glances at him subtly. He knew that Gen knew that he hated being coddled more than anything and was using anger as a way to keep himself from giving in to that urge to do so. Senku was grateful. 

“Ignoring me? Fine. Take this and take a nap.” Gen said, handing Senku a bowl of powdery water that he’d been grinding up while Senku was distracted by his thoughts. 

“Acetaminophen?” 

“What else?” Gen drawled, as Senku nodded his approval and drank the liquid slowly. With that, all conversation ended as Gen quietly took to organizing the mess of things they had lying around, and Senku curled under his blankets for a long-awaited nap. 

Except the nap wouldn’t come. He kept tossing and turning, his back aching when he laid on it, then his hips when he laid on his side, not to mention the headache that pounded through his head like Tsukasa’s war drums, kept him from slipping past the point of consciousness. 

In the stone age, getting sick was game over. He had said that himself ages ago. Distantly, Senku felt himself scowl at the misstep he took. How could he let himself get this way? He felt terrible. How Ruri managed to survive for almost 18 years with pneumonia was beyond him. He might look into the village people’s evolution pool to see what’s changed between the 4,000 years it’s been. 

But only after he got a stupid nap, that unsurprisingly still wasn’t coming to him. He was just too uncomfortable in his own skin. A feeling like little hot pins poking him washed over his shoulders, making a godawful whine come out of his throat as he tried to shove off the insistent blanket trying to cover him. Then he was being moved to rest his head against something soft, squishy, and warm as a hand-carded gently through his sweat-soaked hair. 

He was being coddled, and while normally Senku would’ve shrugged them off by now, he found he didn’t have the strength anymore. He was too weak, and while he’d never admit it to anyone, it was actually kind of nice to have that soothing attention on him. His headache was already fading to a dull throb. 

After a few more minutes, Senku was nearly under when something else pricked his senses and roused him for a second. Someone was humming. No, he recognized that voice. _Gen_ was humming. It was muffled to his ears, but he could feel the steady vibration of it under his ear. Senku felt weightless in the dark of his closed eyes, and it was only the steady presence of the person next to him that he was confident he wouldn’t float away. Out of a natural-born instinct, Senku nuzzled closer to the warm being beside him before fully slipping away into the dark, weightlessness again. 

_The feeling was ominously familiar._

——————

“126,144,125,371.” A croaky voice, nearly gone with all the cracks in it, caught Gen’s attention from his paper he was writing on. Looking up at his patient, Gen felt a jolt of something sharp stab him in the gut when he noticed Senku’s eyes open but vacant.

“Senku-chan?” Gen stood up and walked over to him, brushing the bangs away from his face and laying a hand on his forehead only to recoil at the heat. Vacant, hooded eyes stared at the ceiling, unable to track anything and certainly not recognizing him as Gen frantically re-wetted the towel and washed Senku’s head and neck. 

“126,144,125,372. 126,144,125,373.” Senku whispered to thin air. It only took a second for Gen to realize what Senku’s fever ramblings were about and when it dawned on him, it left the pit in his stomach curling on itself. 

“Oh no, no. Senku-chan, you aren’t frozen anymore.” Gen frantically tried to get through to Senku as he redoubled his efforts to get his fever down. “Senku-chan!”

“126,144,125,377.” Senku continued, no sign of having heard him. 

“Shh, it’s okay.” Gen whispered as he gently patted Senku’s hair. “Come back to me, Senku-chan.” 

It was hard not to show it, but when former chief Kokuyo had carried Senku over to him and the others from the village, he was very worried. Yelling that Senku had fainted in the middle of a scientific explanation and was burning up had sent a thrill of something cold through Gen’s body. Then Senku had lurched forward in his arms, toppled to the ground, and began throwing up, only making it to a pot because Kohaku had shoved one under his chin. The worry only increased through the night until now. With a non-lucid Senku muttering with a high fever, thinking he was still frozen in petrification, alone and with nothing but his thoughts to keep him sane. It was only then that Gen realized that he’d stopped counting, and his eyes were gaining some clarity again. 

“That’s it. You’re doing good, just follow my voice.” Gen whispered, rocking them both back and forth gently. “We’re in the observatory right now, and it’s about 4 in the morning, so it’s a bit colder outside.” Gen talked, hoping Senku would hear and snap out of it. Assure him he was okay. “The sky is clear, by the way, so you can see Orion’s belt very well. Next to it is Sirius in Canis Major. Remember? You taught me all the different names and their Latin phrases, though unfortunately, I forgot most of them.” Gen chuckled absentmindedly. 

“You’ll teach me again, won’t you, Senku-chan?” Gen asked, watching as Senku closed his eyes again. “I’ll pay attention this time, I promise. But only if you promise you’ll get through this, okay?” Gen said as he laid Senku back down and reapplied the previously fallen from their rocking towel. Gen startled when Senku gave a last mumble before sniffling and taking hold of his hand, grip weak but there nonetheless. 

Gen smiled. “I’ll hold you to that.”

——————

Waking up was a task. While Senku would love to stay in the blissful state of sleep, something had roused him again, and he was too curious as to what. So he slowly peeled his eyes open, giving them a second to adjust and recognize the ceiling of the observatory above him. Only when he could focus completely did he start taking stock of his body. His fever had lowered to almost nothing, which was a good sign, and while he was still tender, he didn’t feel like throwing up or passing out again.

The headache he had was gone as well, which was a relief all on its own. While he wasn’t exactly lucid last night, he could still remember bits of what happened. _Someone humming; talking; promising?_

After an embarrassingly long amount of minutes, Senku finally took note of the weight that was on his hand. _So that wasn’t a dream,_ Senku thought, feeling a grin take over his expression despite trying not to let it. Next to him was Gen, lying on his side and fast asleep, clutching his hand like a baby would with a toy. 

“Gen?” Senku shook Gen’s shoulder lightly, still weak from sickness but enough to get a snuffle from the man asleep lying next to him. There were bags under his eyes, and he seemed deep asleep despite not having anything but the hardwood underneath him. Finally, Gen’s eyes opened, hazy with sleep, but focused enough to not spark any worry. 

“Senku-chan?” Gen smiled as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning before leaning over to check Senku’s temperature with his palm again. Senku let him, only speaking up again after Gen had him drink some water. 

“You look like shit.” Senku chuckled as he reached out and ruffled Gen’s bed-head to make it worse. 

“Says you.” Gen laughed along, batting Senku’s hand away lightly before a more serious expression took over his features. “How do you feel? And no lying.”

Senku smirked. “Of course, why would I steal your job?” 

“Meanie.” Gen returned the smirk, lightly hitting Senku on the shoulder, though it was really nothing more than a pat. His hand stayed there afterward anyway, again rubbing circles into the less heated skin. “Really, are you better?”

“Groggy, still have some aches, but I’m past the worst of it.” Senku shrugged. 

“Thank goodness.”

“Oh? Was the world’s most shallowest man worried?” Senku teased, getting another laugh out of Gen, who started to loosen up again. Senku was relieved. 

“For you? The most stubborn science nerd in the world? Not once. I was confident you’d survive.” Gen laminated as he crossed the observatory and picked up a new bedroll that had been sitting there all night. 

“I mean, I did promise, didn’t I?” Senku said, watching as Gen froze for a second at the implications. 

“I- you heard me?” Gen asked, snapping himself out of his frozen state rather quickly and going back to setting up the new bedding. 

“Bits and pieces.” Senku admitted, watching Gen with a lazy mind. 

Gen grinned as he finished and walked back over to Senku, holding out his hand to take and lead Senku shakily to the new bed. “Well, at least you had the peace of mind to hold your promise.”

“Always.” Senku said, more of an exhale as his weak body was finally able to collapse after the short trip across the room. The new bedroll was cooler and felt cleaner than the one he slept in last night, and the feeling was like bliss over his skin. 

“I’m going to tell the others you’re better.” Gen announced as he covered Senku with a new blanket, adding a whispered, “Then I can take a nap,” at the end, as he filled a jug with cold water and left it next to Senku’s pillow. 

“You look like you need it, mentalist.” Senku teased, making Gen shake his head in fond exasperation. 

“Shut up.” Gen smiled as he combed his fingers through his hair in an attempt to fix it before heading for the door. 

“Gen.” Senku called before Gen stepped out, making Gen look back at him, mid-step. He wasn’t sure where he wanted to go with this. While Senku knew he was lucky that Gen had been there to help him through the night, it was never a spoken thing between him or anyone to express his thankfulness in words. He liked action better anyway. “Nevermind.” Senku ended up saying instead.

Gen smiled, a glint of knowing twinkling in his eyes. “Of course, Senku-chan~” He responded as he left and shut the door behind him. 

Senku laid back, letting himself get comfortable in the new bedding before he chuckled, excitement thrumming through his newly healthy body as he thought back to the cola recipe he’d memorized. “Idiot.” Senku drawled with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Am back!! I'm so sorry, it's been so long since June already, I really appreciate your patience. <3 Thank you to senkuishigmi on Tumblr for the request! I hope it's alright~ 
> 
> Next fic will be posted on **10/15/2020** so stay tuned!
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading this far and I hope you enjoyed! <3


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